Ex-HP chairwoman won't face charges

Posted: Thursday, March 15, 2007

The Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A judge dropped charges against former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who was accused of orchestrating the boardroom spying scandal at the Silicon Valley computer company.

Three other defendants in the case also will avoid jail time after they entered no contest pleas to misdemeanor charges in Santa Clara Superior Court.

The charges against former HP ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker and private investigators Ronald DeLia and Matthew Depante will be dropped in September after they complete 96 hours of community service and make restitution, the judge said.

The pleas were entered by their lawyers at a hearing.

The four were charged in October with four felony counts: use of false or fraudulent pretenses to obtain confidential information from a public utility; unauthorized access to computer data; identity theft; and conspiracy to commit each of those crimes.

Each of those charges carried a fine of up to $10,000 and three years in prison.

Prosecutors had said the court would likely waive the community service requirement and dismiss the case against Dunn because she has cancer.